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United States47024 Posts
On November 28 2009 00:30 Conquest101 wrote:
Storm of the Century is not worth the effort/mana/time 99% of the time. It's overkill on normal encounters, and not worth the expenditure against bosses in my opinion.
While this is true for most of the game, Storm of the Century is invaluable as you approach the endgame, due to the fact that difficult encounters start to revolve more around large bands of enemies, and not about singular opponents (which makes sense--you're fighting nobles and their posse, not a big ass monster). It's invaluable against Cauthrian for example.
The thing is, it's almost no investment at all to GET Storm of the Century. You will always have a mage with Cone of Cold and Mana Clash, making it effortless to get Blizzard and Spell Might. The only spell that you might have to stretch for is Tempest, and Morrigan already starts with Shock.
On November 28 2009 00:30 Conquest101 wrote:
This is the kinda cheap ass way to do it though =p.
Agreed, though by level 14, you should have no real trouble beating them the non-cheesy way. Shale and Alistair should both be able to tank it, and Wynne's healing power should be able to keep up, particularly if you use Vessel of the Spirit. The real trick is to always keep your non-tank characters out of range of the Revenant, because he has that nasty attack that sweeps everyone in melee range, and it's a drain on healers' mana to have to heal a rogue who's taking absurd amounts of damage just hanging around next to the Revenant because he has no armor.
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I think i need to respec my alistar then. I actually didnt get any talent from warrior spec, his all shield and sword and truthfully, its not doing great for tanking. not to mention i have a useless pc aw/bm which i don't get how the imba-ness is suppose to work
Meh on 2nd thought i may even have to respec morrigan too for a heal spell. lol
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On November 25 2009 01:21 Conquest101 wrote:
Here's my opinion on the rogue based on a playthrough on hard with Redcliffe, Mage Circle, some of Brecillian(sp) Forest, and first two DLC areas complete. Currently level 14. I've also "cheated" a bit, and used the console to test out various skills (before reloading my game).
I'm running a hybrid Archer/Duel Wielder. Specs are Ranger and Assassin. Glass cannon style with most points in Str/Dex, some in Cunning. I am NOT using the Dexterity fix mod, though I would imagine that would change some things, like my opinion of archery.
First off, archery is pretty mediocre(see above for disclaimer).Bad damage, bad attack rate, mediocre skills except one or two. When I said hybrid above, basically that means Arrow of Slaying tree only. 0 points in the rest. Arrow of Slaying is pretty awesome for opening up a fight to gank spellcasters. Hits for upwards of 200 damage potentially if they don't pass the phys check, which most spellcaster type enemies won't. Pinning shot(same line) has it's uses as well, though it's pretty unreliable. Master archer doesn't seem to have much of an effect on AoS damage when I tested it, and thus is not worth 4 points at all. All the sustained abilities are pretty worthless imo. Scattershot looks good on paper until you realize the stun length is like... 2 seconds. Much better to rely on a mage for crowd control. Basically, don't go archery without the Dex fix (not sure how good it is even with the dex fix though). You're damage output just isn't good enough. I like AoS though, but you can certainly save those 4 points for something else if you like. I did NOT get Stealth/lockpicking trees on my main character, so I saved a lot of points there. You might not have the points to pick up any archery skills anyway, if you pick up Assassin/Ranger/other Rogue/DW skills.
Now, duel wielding, backstabbing goodness, is where the rogue's true strength lies. Rogues have very good single target DPS.
DW Training -> DW Mastery.
Get these all. Increased attack, defense, crit rate, damage, etc. The ability to wield 2 full-sized weapons is kinda hit or miss though, since I find that dagger off-hand (better bonuses usually) is the superior choice. Reduced stamina costs don't hurt though.
Dual Striking -> Punisher
Now here is where my opinion might differ from other people's a bit. I feel that you don't need ANY of these 4 skills. Here's my reasoning: I do as much or more single-target DPS with Momentum + regular backstabs, than I would if I "wasted" time using those above skills. Honestly, Punisher is the only one that's useful, and more for the knockdown than the damage, and is not worth the four points.
DW Sweep -> Whirlwind
You NEED momentum. It is GODLY. Your attack rate is so much faster. Faster than haste, or any item. As a disclaimer though, haste does not appear to stack with momentum, and actually overrides it I believe. This is not an issue if your party is say, Rogue, Warrior Tank, Mage, Mage, but might be a problem if you have more warriors. (If you have more rogues, they need momentum too). That being said, Flurry isn't particularly good, DW Sweep CAN be good if you have like 3 or 4 enemies lined up. Whirlwind is pretty shitty though, I don't even bother getting it. Damage is much lower than DW Sweep, and you need to be surrounded by enemies to get good mileage out of it, NOT a situation you want to be in as a rogue anyway.
General rogue group has a lot of useful skills as well.
Stealth is not useful in my opinion. Since the rest of you're unstealthed party will trigger enemies anyway, you have to leave them behind to run up and get a backstab (something you could do anyway, without risking horrible mauling). I just don't feel there is any use to it.
Lockpicking is up to you of course. I just use Lilianna and run through cleared areas if I really want to get everything. I wonder if it's possible to just have 1 point and tons of cunning to open high level chests though.
I don't find any of the activated abilities here particularly useful either, except for feign death as a save your ass from aggro skill. If you have a good tank + party though, it shouldn't be necessary.
Lethality and Evasion are good. Combat Movement is up in the air. Theoretically, you could just position yourself better, and that would render it useless. For ease of backstabbing though, it's useful. Coup de Grace is kinda useless imo. You should be backstabbing no matter what, stunned enemies or not, so kinda pointless.
As far as specializations go, I don't have experience with Duelist, but here's my opinion on the rest.
Assassin - Mark of Death is useful against bosses/elites. All the passives are pretty good, and they're passives, so spend and forget.
Ranger - Mastered Bear is pretty good. Has ridiculous life. It doesn't really draw attention well though, so not a replacement for a tank. I like just sending it at the strongest enemy to keep it off my parties back. I've heard good things about using the summons for Blood Mage fodder as well, though I don't have experience with that I'm afraid.
Bard - Not that useful imo, though I haven't used it much. Song of Valor seems to barely affect stamina regen with like 20ish cunning at the time. Song of Courage is decent, though not worth sacrificing a spec for. Captivating song is pretty good minus the part where you're stuck unable to do anything. Pass.
Equipment - Main hand weapon should be as much damage as possible. Off-hand weapon should be bonuses first priority, + armor penetration, +damage, +attack +backstab damage, etc.
Light armor is best. Look for +damage, +backstab, +dex, +str, +cun, +def. Armor rating is secondary. The few items with % to dodge attacks is good, since I assume it stacks with the Evade skill, and +def is superior to +armor imo. Better to evade an attack all together, since you will never have particularly good armor rating.
And that's my opinion on most of the Rogue stuff.
/wall of text
Hope that was helpful to someone.
This post is helping a ton, thanks.
I'm having trouble backstabbing somethings though, I never know if I'm actually doing it right, is there any kind of indication that you are getting a backstab? And is there any easy way to get back stabs when the enemy is focused on you, or should I just be running around the whole fight looking for people to backstab?
Also, once I have l lethality, can I stop putting points into strength all together?
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Backstabs show up on screen like criticals. Assuming you have the damage numbers turned on in your settings, it'll show up as a bigger than usual number, just like a critical hit. The attack animation uses your main hand only (I'm not 100% sure if it only uses your main hand damage as well, but pretty sure, bonuses from offhand are definitely applied though). It's a stabbing animation instead of a slashing one. Pretty easy to tell if you are Duel Wielding.
It is sort of possible to BS an opponent that is aggro'd to you, but since you can't strafe in this game, it's quite difficult. Basically move during enemies attack animation. With a good tank, it shouldn't be an issue too much though.
Yes, after lethality, strength becomes fairly useless, especially since dagger/dagger is the best DPS supposedly with a cunning build. Dex/Cunning being you're primary stats. I'd shoot for 20 STR to be able to equip the highest tier light armor. +stats DOES work for equipment as well, so like if you have the +1 all stats ring on for example or other stat jewelry/belts, you could get away with less. Assuming you want to min-max to that degree of course.
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United States47024 Posts
On November 29 2009 01:01 sixghost wrote:
I'm having trouble backstabbing somethings though, I never know if I'm actually doing it right, is there any kind of indication that you are getting a backstab? And is there any easy way to get back stabs when the enemy is focused on you, or should I just be running around the whole fight looking for people to backstab?
You shouldn't have enemies focused on you, period. Your tank should be capable of maintaining aggro, and be able to taunt off anyone attacking you. If you're generating too much threat off your damage, look for equipment that reduces hostility to you.
On November 29 2009 01:22 Conquest101 wrote:
Yes, after lethality, strength becomes fairly useless, especially since dagger/dagger is the best DPS supposedly with a cunning build. Dex/Cunning being you're primary stats. I'd shoot for 20 STR to be able to equip the highest tier light armor. +stats DOES work for equipment as well, so like if you have the +1 all stats ring on for example or other stat jewelry/belts, you could get away with less. Assuming you want to min-max to that degree of course.
Keep in mind that you also get 3-4 points of Strength from the Mage's Circle.
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On November 29 2009 01:22 Conquest101 wrote:
Backstabs show up on screen like criticals. Assuming you have the damage numbers turned on in your settings, it'll show up as a bigger than usual number, just like a critical hit. The attack animation uses your main hand only (I'm not 100% sure if it only uses your main hand damage as well, but pretty sure, bonuses from offhand are definitely applied though). It's a stabbing animation instead of a slashing one. Pretty easy to tell if you are Duel Wielding.
It is sort of possible to BS an opponent that is aggro'd to you, but since you can't strafe in this game, it's quite difficult. Basically move during enemies attack animation. With a good tank, it shouldn't be an issue too much though.
Yes, after lethality, strength becomes fairly useless, especially since dagger/dagger is the best DPS supposedly with a cunning build. Dex/Cunning being you're primary stats. I'd shoot for 20 STR to be able to equip the highest tier light armor. +stats DOES work for equipment as well, so like if you have the +1 all stats ring on for example or other stat jewelry/belts, you could get away with less. Assuming you want to min-max to that degree of course.
Yeah I read the thing about the bigger numbers in the manual, I've been looking for it, but they dont seem that much bigger than any other attacks. My character is definitely doing a stabbing motion though.
Anyway, it's not that big of a problem with the agro, it just seems like 1 guy always likes to chase me the entire fight, but it's been less of a hassle since I bought alistair armor thats way better then anyone elses, which I thought I read attracts the enemies.
Also, what should I be getting as my skills? I maxed out combat training, and I've got 1 in stealing/poison/traps, so I can at least do the bare minimum in those, but none of the rest seem very useful, I guess coercion could be useful. And can I do anything with my specialization point yet? I'm only at level 8, it seems weird that they would give it to me before I could spend it, do you have to unlock the specialization through the story somewhere?
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United States47024 Posts
On November 29 2009 03:04 sixghost wrote:
Also, what should I be getting as my skills? I maxed out combat training, and I've got 1 in stealing/poison/traps, so I can at least do the bare minimum in those, but none of the rest seem very useful, I guess coercion could be useful. And can I do anything with my specialization point yet? I'm only at level 8, it seems weird that they would give it to me before I could spend it, do you have to unlock the specialization through the story somewhere?
Coercion is useful because in Bioware RPGs, persuasion outright restricts certain plot points. If you have high cunning, you could get by without it, but I always max it out first.
The other skill to get one-of is Survival, because of the value you get out of it. Nature resistance boost, and knowning enemy positions 90% of the time all for the cost of 1 skill rank? Sign me up.
Specializations are unlocked at various points throughout the game. Without spoiling too much, 2 of them are unlocked from your companions, one is bought at a certain store, and another comes from meeting a certain NPC.
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How viable is an Arcane Warrior for maintaining threat, especially at higher difficulties?
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United States47024 Posts
On November 29 2009 03:41 andrewlt wrote:
How viable is an Arcane Warrior for maintaining threat, especially at higher difficulties?
It maintains threat just fine. The real question is if you can take the damage when 1) you need your hitpoints as fuel for your spells, 2) your defense (not your armor) is low, and 3) you have no shield defense talents.
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^ Ditto, a AW/SH will be maintaining threat fine and tank quite well but I have not figure out how does a aw/bm rape through everything like people on the social boards are claiming
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United States47024 Posts
On November 29 2009 12:58 Hyaach wrote:
^ Ditto, a AW/SH will be maintaining threat fine and tank quite well but I have not figure out how does a aw/bm rape through everything like people on the social boards are claiming
Blood Mage owns because it never runs out of mana. You can power nonstop spells out of your health, casting rejuvenate just as you burn out your mana. Just as your health drops into the red zone, you deactivate Blood Magic and spam Heal on yourself. As soon as you are out of mana, you activate Blood Magic and repeat. This allows you to power an infinite string of Cone of Colds, Fireballs, or whatever the hell other spell you feel like spamming. Compared to a non-Blood Mage, your mana longevity is much longer.
Arcane Warrior adds to that simply by letting you cut your health even closer. A normal Blood Mage, without heavy/massive armor, has to leave quite a bit of health on reserve, since he has to be able to survive a random crit from an archer, a tail swipe from a dragon, or a Mass Pull + Double Strike from a Revenant. With massive armor, however, a Blood Mage can afford to cut far deeper into his health, as many attacks will do drastically reduced damage, and since Wade's Dragonscale Armor gives such a drastic fatigue reduction, it doesn't even add heavily to his spell costs. As an added bonus, getting aggro from masses of enemies allows you to chain Mind Blast->Cone of Cold->Mass Paralysis->Mass AOE damage, which wipes out huge crowds quite easily (not that it wasn't easy already).
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Not to mention Blood Wound is like an AOE Crushing Prison -_-
Blood magic should really have had a longer cooldown. 10 secs is waaaaay too short.
As it is, BM is ridiculously good.
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United States47024 Posts
On November 29 2009 14:28 Conquest101 wrote:
Not to mention Blood Wound is like an AOE Crushing Prison -_-
True, and ranger summons cut out the "use mana when health is low" stage entirely. Simply eat through the summons with Blood Sacrifice.
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Hey, i have problem vs a revenant and hi skellis in red cliff.... are there certai spells/weapons better more effective than others vs skellis?
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United States47024 Posts
On November 30 2009 07:44 Teejing wrote:
Hey, i have problem vs a revenant and hi skellis in red cliff.... are there certai spells/weapons better more effective than others vs skellis?
Skeletons are immune to poison, and semi-immune to cold (they take no damage, but can still be frozen). Try to avoid using those types.
A note on the revenant: since this one is yellow-named (unlike the orange-named ones elsewhere in the game), it is vulnerable to Crushing Prison. This actually makes it extremely easy to deal with, as Crushing Prison + a few of your spammable damage spells should take it down quickly.
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also i you go in with your rogue you can unlock the redcliff castle gates and let in the infantry. They are very good at being meatshields allowing your characters too stay up throughout the fight to burn down the revenant.
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ye ^ anyone of your party member can unlock the gates actually.I move all my guys to the gate, open it and lured the enemies closer to their death
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god, and i needed 20 tries to do it without support xD. Was very frustrating ^^.
Thx for help anyways
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United States47024 Posts
On December 01 2009 04:15 Teejing wrote:
god, and i needed 20 tries to do it without support xD. Was very frustrating ^^.
Thx for help anyways
IMO that Revenant fight was the easiest one.
Have you been to Brecilian Forest? The Tevinter mage treasure guardians will be a nightmare.
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On December 01 2009 02:05 Hyaach wrote:
ye ^ anyone of your party member can unlock the gates actually.I move all my guys to the gate, open it and lured the enemies closer to their death
yea i just did it with me rogue because o ze stealthy stealth
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EPT
